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Pharmacy student’s poster presentation garners third at national convention

Ohio Northern University student Megan Bensi, a fifth-year pharmacy major from Kirtland, Ohio, garnered third place in a student poster presentation at the Drug Information Association (DIA) 2012 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia on June 24-28.

At the convention, Bensi competed against 20 graduate-level students. Her poster, titled “Evaluating Consumer Understanding of Prescription Label Information: An Assessment of USP 2011 Recommendations,” was chosen from a pool of more than 100 students in multiple disciplines from around the world.

Working with Donald Sullivan, professor of pharmacy practice at ONU, Bensi aimed to provide empirical data to assess the recommendations from a U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) published report and introduce a prescription label emphasizing essential information in a patient-centered format. In 2011, the USP published a report promoting the implementation of universal standards for prescription medication labels in an effort to enhance patient understanding of label content and to significantly reduce adverse drug events due to medication misuse and label misinterpretation.

“It was an awesome experience just to be able to participate, and coming out with an award and getting to meet the DIA president exceeded my expectations,” Bensi said. “Getting to know students and health professionals from so many different countries was a great opportunity to network and expand my Ohio roots.”

DIA is a neutral, global, nonprofit association that provides knowledge resources across the full spectrum of medical product development. DIA provides professionals at all levels and across all disciplines access to timely and authoritative information to advance careers, skills, and innovation in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and related fields.